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Sunday, May 7, 2017

Two Days Hiking past Senecaville Lake

Leaving the public lands of Salt Fork Wildlife Management Area, I found my feet plodding lots of roads. Twenty-five miles covered in two days included less than three miles on off-road foot trail in the woods.

Some of the scenes along the roads were fun. The 'money' shot (above) of Senecaville Lake was taken from the highway where it crosses the dam.

But the foot trail was just 'green tunnel' stuff--fun to be in the wild, but lacking much of photogenic interest. I noted only one sight along the foot trail worth sharing--this rickety old orange-painted Fire Tower.

I happened to run into the owner of the property here. Matt was out turkey hunting. He told me that he wouldn't want to climb that tower. It's been abandoned and neglected for decades. He and I shared a bond, having both lost our fathers in the past year.

The road walks were mostly on quiet roads. More nasty loose dogs than cars. But there were some decent views, enhanced by the cumulus clouds on this breezy cool day.

And there was another quirky old rusting structure. This old oil storage tank on Pipa Road has been converted to an oversize trail marker.

Otherwise the profusion of May flowers got my attention. Here are shots of the wild white hydrangea and of the wetland yellow iris growing in a roadside ditch.

Below are the overview GPS tracks for the two days, followed by the five individual interactive segments generated on Wikiloc.

The Saturday weather was cloudy and started rainy and ended with some showers, Sunday featured morning sun and a few later afternoon showers, but none of it was more than a slight nuisance. Tomorrow threatens to be in the 30's but my van is doing some worse threatening. I'm afraid my brakes are shot--horrendous noises coming from the right front wheel. So I'm going to a repair shop first thing in the morning and will not be sorry to miss the chill.

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"Not all who wander are lost." -- J.R.R. Tolkien

Welcome. Here is a site about traveling the old fashioned way—on foot.

“…the walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours—as the swinging of dumb-bells or chairs; but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day."

— Henry David Thoreau

For me, purposeful walking lies at the heart a well-lived life. Walking defines us as a species. We are the ape who left the trees to explore the world. Walking made us curious and adaptable, which led to tool making, agriculture, community, and perhaps to the point of forgetting that it was our two feet that got us here. In myself I find the purest peace experiencing this world in the simple way of our distant ancestors.

“
…walk in a way that … print[s] peace and serenity on the Earth. Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet."

— Thich Nhat Hanh

I started this blog after I retired from NASA, so that family could follow my bucket-list treks. I’m still trekking. See the ‘Hopping Rocks’ tab for details. Sharing the joy of my walks just amps up the joy-meter. This is a labor of love.